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Great barrier reef introduction
Great Barrier Reef environmental issues
Environmental problems in the great barrier reef
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Picture the shining, clear blue water of the Great Barrier Reef filled with bright, colorful fish and beautiful coral. The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system and is home to many different species of marine wildlife. Our generation needs to learn about this beautiful ecosystem so that we can protect it from damage for future generations to enjoy.
The Great Barrier Reef is found off the coast of Queensland, Australia in the Coral Sea and it is the “world’s largest reef system” (greatbarrierreef.org). Because the reef is so large it is considered to be one of the “seven natural wonders of the world” (greatbarrierreef.org). According to unmuseum.org/7wonders/greatreef.com, the Great Barrier Reef is more than 1600 miles long and it covers an area of more than 133,000 square miles. The reef system is composed of over 2900 individual reefs and has over 900 islands. The complete system is larger than all of Italy put together (greatbarrierreef.com) which is equal to about 70 million soccer fields (greatadventures.com.au/great-barrier-reef.info). The Great Barrier ...
The numerous micro habitats of coral reefs and the high biological productivity support a great diversity of life. The Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is a chain of coral reefs in the Coral Sea, off the northeastern coast of Australia. The largest reef in the world, it extends about 1250 mi from Mackay, Queensland to the Torres Strait (between Australia and New Guinea.) The Great Barrier Reef is home to a remarkable number of organisms.
Believe it or not the current pop culture surrounding the reef is environmental protection. This mean that people are trying to protect and cleanse the reef of toxic waste and such. And the reason that comes to mind as to why they are protecting the reef is because they would want to preserve such a mythical place from the bottom of their
Earth, an endless source of wonder and beauty, produced the Great Barrier Reef. Hustling and bustling, the Reef thrives like a busy city, teeming with life. Sheltering thousands, corals, maintain the well-being of the Reef; however, the world threatens its nature and delicacy. Populations growing and technological advances increasing, the world becomes more and more disconnected with the natural world, posing an alarming risk for the planet we live on. Although many organizations try to keep the oceans clean, because of human interference and unnatural occurrences, the Great Barrier Reef needs scientific help to adapt corals to new conditions for means of survival, putting pressure on the Australian government to save their ocean environment.
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world, it protects coastlines from the dangerous effects of tropical storms and wave action, it is also home to more than 11,ooo marine life. It is one of the world’s largest coral reefs, so large in fact that you can see if from space.
Imagine a lush underwater place. Beautiful structures colorful animals and places that would never have been thought of before. In reality that's not what it really looks like, really the ocean is a desolate place that is barren like a desert. Many marine species have been lost by as much as 49%.(seeker) A big part of that reason is because of coral bleaching which causes as stated above a decline in species that depend on the coral as there home. Coral bleaching is a serious problem that could cause problems for everyone if we don’t fix it.
Around the world, their are beautiful places called “the seven wonders of the natural world”. These sites are fantastic because of there fascinating views and the fact that they were naturally made, not by humans. One of these seven natural wonders of the natural world is the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef was formed by corals growing on submerged islands. The sea level then continued to rise, “leading to more corals growing and forming.” (Zimmerman). The Great Barrier Reef is “a mosaic of 2,900 individual reefs” and can be “seen from space and is not only the world's largest coral reef system but also the largest structure
Coral reefs are systems of large, underwater structures that are composed of the mineralized bodies of corals. These corals are a class of marine invertebrates known as Anthozoans, and belong to the phylum Cnidaria, and are thus related to sea anemone and jellyfish. Each individual coral animal is only a few millimeters in diameter, and a few centimeters in length. Due to their sessile nature, and their ability to reproduce asexually, they are able to construct, over many generations, massive colonies of genetically identical individuals. Additionally, they secrete a hard exoskeleton of calcium carbonate to support and protect their bodies, and it is from this process that the colony constructs what is known as a single coral “head.”
Parts of the Great Barrier Reef are over 18 million years old. During this time sea levels have changed, with the Great Barrier Reef being left high and dry during the last ice age, turning into grassy plains. Sea levels rose as ice caps melted around 12 000 years ago, allowing corals to reestablish on old remnant reefs. It is the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem. The Great Barrier Reef is home to 1500 species of fish, 400 species of coral, 40000 species of Mollusk, 500 species of sea weed 215 species of birds, 16 species of sea snake and 6 species of turtle. However over time this diversity is rapidly decreasing, it is vital that the Great Barrier Reef is protected.
Osborne, K, Dolman, A, Burgess, S, & Johns, K 2011, 'Disturbance and the Dynamics of Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef (1995-2009)', Plos ONE, 6, 3, p. 1, Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 April 2014.
That’s not to say that the Great Barrier Reef has not suffered its own damage. It has and will continue to suffer in the future. Corals use these products to make proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and produce calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is what the coral uses to make its hard skeleton.
The Great barrier reef has had many recent hardships, including water pollutants and the increasing water temperature. Although it may be too late to save this particular reef we the people must not be so nearsighted to the
The Great Barrier Reef is an exemplary model of the famous exotic coral reef seen in a copy of the National Geographic or the popular animated film Finding Nemo. Located on the coast of Australia, it is known as the “largest biological organism in the world” (“Human Impact on the Great Barrier Reef” par. 1). The idea bears that coral reefs are again not an assortment of organisms functioning separately but rather working together to thrive. The groups of coral that are seen in t...
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”
They are one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet, and are home to over 4,000 different types of fish, 700 species of coral and thousands of other plants and animals. A good way to imagine a coral reef is to think of it as a bustling city or community, with the buildings made of coral, and thousands of inhabitants coming and going, carrying out their business. In this sense, a coral reef is like a metropolis under the sea. What is a coral reef? Although coral is often mistaken for a rock or a plant, it is actually composed of tiny, fragile animals called coral polyps.
Today many people do not see the need to preserve corals reefs. Hence because of the lack of appreciation for the reefs, they are slowly disappearing. Many citizens do not realize the importance of these reefs, the species they hold, and the food webs that connect the ecosystems. Our American government has stated many times that they are doing all they can to preserve and to replenish our coral reefs. However, how accurate is that statement? To answer these questions, we first have to understand what a coral reef is and how it can be saved.